Tagged: windows

I was helping a friend today doing some over-the-shoulder code review and suggestions for his Windows app he’s writing for the store.  In doing this I asked a question about how to perform a certain action.  He indicated that he put those functions in the AppBar and was it not obvious I was supposed to use them.  I looked at the AppBar again and found out why I wasn’t drawn to them.  First, the labels he used weren’t descriptive to me and relied too much on me looking at the actual icon.  Second, however, is that when I hovered over...

At the “Developing Windows 8 Metro style apps with C++” event that happened on 18-May-2012, we saw and heard some very interesting things.  If you were watching live then hopefully you didn’t see how I tried to work through my presentation while my disk was suspiciously guzzling every last byte until it eventually ran out of space!  But I digress… During the keynote presentation by Herb Sutter, we brought up several customers that are well-known in the native code world to talk about their experiences with Metro style apps and C++/Cx.  In particular hopefully this one caught your eye: That’s right, the...

An old colleague of mine and now HTML extraordinaire, Adam Kinney, just recently posted on his spelunking of some styling in both WinJS and XAML runtimes with regard to icons/buttons to use in a Metro style app and the AppBar. Adam has two posts: (WinJS) Windows 8 AppBarIcons enumerated and visualized (XAML) Windows 8 AppBarButtonStyles enumerated and visualized Basically what these do is define a set of styles, both in CSS and XAML, that map back to unicode values in the Segoe UI Symbol font.  This contains a...

I hope that you had a chance to download the Windows 8 Consumer Preview.  One of the things that you will absolutely want to do is watch Jensen’s video as a video walk-through of Windows 8 features, focusing on working with the operating system as a user, introducing the gestures and things you want to know about.  It is a great, short video and you should definitely watch it: As an avid keyboard user (and one without a touch device currently) I rely on the ‘desktop’ use of my Windows installation.  In addition to those things that Jensen mentions in his...

Today, Microsoft will reveal the Windows 8 Consumer Preview for download to everyone.  This builds on the momentum and feedback from the Developer Preview released in September.  I’m very excited to get the developer platform in front of you so you can see the changes and new features we’ve made available as well as fixes based on your feedback. Along with the release of the actual bits, we’ve updated many resources for you to take advantage of as a developer, so allow me to iterate my top resources for you now… First, download the Windows...

Today there was an event in San Francisco which introduced the Windows Store for Windows apps as well as some details on revenue sharing and policies.  As a part of that Antoine LeBland, Vice President for Windows Web Services, also opened up a new dialog about the store specifically in a new blog Windows Store for developers.  This blog will help developers learn about aspects of the store as well as serve as a place for dialog between the store teams and you, the app developer.  I think it is great that the store team is following in the footsteps...

By now hopefully you’ve seen a lot of the revealing of what the next version of Windows has in store for developers.  Trust me there is a LOT to absorb as the week continues and you should absolutely keep your eye on the BUILD conference site where session information will likely start to appear. I know that a lot of readers here will be interested in the XAML-specific sessions so I thought I’d iterate them here real quick.  NOTE: Anything on the agenda with a “C” after the session number is a chalk talk...

In case you haven’t paid attention today, Microsoft announced the upcoming developer conference in September: Registration is now open so get registered…and save $500 now.  For a preview of what is coming in Windows, be sure to check out all the details at the company release “Previewing ‘Windows 8’” which includes a video walk through of some of the features. Then go register for BUILD! tags: windows, win8, build, pdcThis work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution By license.

May is here!…time for an updated Windows 7 Smashing Magazine theme pack! The May themes seem to be pretty random to me…no clear theme from contributors…zombies at a picnic?  Ok, I guess.  Here is your May 2011 Windows 7 Theme Packs for wallpapers – unfiltered and uncensored – about 26 wallpapers in all. Smashing Magazine May 2011 Windows 7 Theme (calendar) Smashing Magazine May 2011 Windows 7 Theme (no calendar) Smashing Magazine Desktop Wallpaper: May 2011 (original post) Special thanks to TransferBigFiles.com...

April showers bring May flowers as they say…time for an updated Windows 7 Smashing Magazine theme pack! The April themes follow the theme what you'd expect with some flowers and such...ad a few fun ones sprinkled in there.  Here is your April 2011 Windows 7 Theme Packs for wallpapers – unfiltered and uncensored – about 35 wallpapers in all. Smashing Magazine April 2011 Windows 7 Theme (calendar) Smashing Magazine April 2011 Windows 7 Theme (no calendar) Smashing Magazine Desktop Wallpaper: April 2011 (original post) Special thanks to TransferBigFiles.com for hosting...

March is here…time for an updated Windows 7 Smashing Magazine theme pack! The March themes seem completely random to me.  I guess I expected some St. Patrick’s Day themes.  We need some more participation from inspired designers/photographers/artists!  Here is your March 2011 Windows 7 Theme Packs for wallpapers – unfiltered and uncensored – about 35 wallpapers in all. Smashing Magazine March 2011 Windows 7 Theme (calendar) Smashing Magazine March 2011 Windows 7 Theme (no calendar) Smashing Magazine Desktop Wallpaper: March 2011 (original post) ...

February is here…time for an updated Windows 7 Smashing Magazine theme pack! The February themes range from love (Valentine's) to Chinese New Year.  So here is your February 2011 Windows 7 Theme Packs for wallpapers – unfiltered and uncensored – about 40 wallpapers in all. Smashing Magazine February 2011 Windows 7 Theme (calendar) Smashing Magazine February 2011 Windows 7 Theme (no calendar) Smashing Magazine Desktop Wallpaper: February 2011 (original post) Special thanks to TransferBigFiles.com for hosting these wallpaper themes through their great service! (Please note that these downloads are only...

Happy New Year!!!  January (and 2011) is here…time for an updated Windows 7 Smashing Magazine theme pack! The January themes mostly concentrate on a lot of winter and New Year themes (with two random Drupal 7 wallpapers...warning for non-geeks).  Above are two of my favorites.  So here is your January 2011 Windows 7 Theme Packs for wallpapers – unfiltered and uncensored – about 60 wallpapers in all. Smashing Magazine January 2011 Windows 7 Theme (calendar) Smashing Magazine January 2011 Windows 7 Theme (no calendar) Smashing Magazine Desktop Wallpaper: January 2011...

December is here (and half way done…sorry for delay)…time for an updated Windows 7 Smashing Magazine theme pack! The December themes mostly concentrate on a lot of holiday themes.  Frankly my delay was in part because I didn’t find them all that inspiring…sorry, I just didn’t.  So here is your December 2010 Windows 7 Theme Packs for wallpapers – unfiltered and uncensored – about 50 wallpapers in all. Smashing Magazine December 2010 Windows 7 Theme (calendar) Smashing Magazine December 2010 Windows 7 Theme (no calendar) ...

November is here…time for an updated Windows 7 Smashing Magazine theme pack! The November themes mostly concentrate on a lot of fall themes.  I am particular fond of Movember and UX Cake (both shown above) as well as the Hendrix one with the lyrics – pretty cool.  So here is your November 2010 Windows 7 Theme Packs for wallpapers – unfiltered and uncensored – about 50 wallpapers in all. Smashing Magazine November 2010 Windows 7 Theme (calendar) Smashing Magazine November 2010 Windows 7 Theme (no calendar) ...

October is here…time for an updated Windows 7 Smashing Magazine theme pack! The October themes mostly concentrate on a lot of fall and Halloween themes.  So here is your October 2010 Windows 7 Theme Packs for wallpapers – unfiltered and uncensored – about 45 wallpapers in all. Smashing Magazine October 2010 Windows 7 Theme (calendar) Smashing Magazine October 2010 Windows 7 Theme (no calendar) Smashing Magazine Desktop Wallpaper: October 2010 (original post) For details on these and to see past ones, visit the Smashing Magazine Windows 7 Theme information for...

September is here (apologies for being late - in all honesty I wasn't inspired by this months' selections)…time for an updated Windows 7 Smashing Magazine theme pack! The September themes seem to be continuing the focus on 'summer' things.  So here is your September 2010 Windows 7 Theme Packs for wallpapers – unfiltered and uncensored – about 75 wallpapers in all. Smashing Magazine September 2010 Windows 7 Theme (calendar) Smashing Magazine September 2010 Windows 7 Theme (no calendar) Smashing Magazine Desktop Wallpaper: September 2010 (original post) For details on these...

August 1st is here (well okay, so I'm a little late)…time for an updated Windows 7 Smashing Magazine theme pack! The August themes seem to be continuing the focus on 'summer' things.  So here is your August 2010 Windows 7 Theme Packs for wallpapers – unfiltered and uncensored – about 35 wallpapers in all. Smashing Magazine August 2010 Windows 7 Theme (calendar) Smashing Magazine August 2010 Windows 7 Theme (no calendar) Smashing Magazine Desktop Wallpaper: August 2010 (original post) For details on these and to see past ones, visit the...

July 1st is here…time for an updated Windows 7 Smashing Magazine theme pack! The July themes seem to be focuses on more 'summer' things.  Not as many Independence Day things as I would have suspected, but shows a good international design contribution.  So here is your July 2010 Windows 7 Theme Packs for wallpapers – unfiltered and uncensored – about 35 wallpapers in all. Smashing Magazine July 2010 Windows 7 Theme (calendar) Smashing Magazine July 2010 Windows 7 Theme (no calendar) Smashing Magazine Desktop Wallpaper:...

June 1st is here…time for an updated Windows 7 Smashing Magazine theme pack! The June themes seem to be focuses on 'summer' things.  So here is your June 2010 Windows 7 Theme Packs for wallpapers – unfiltered and uncensored – about 55 wallpapers in all. Smashing Magazine June 2010 Windows 7 Theme (calendar) Smashing Magazine June 2010 Windows 7 Theme (no calendar) Smashing Magazine Desktop Wallpaper: June 2010 (original post) For details on these and to see past ones, visit the Smashing Magazine Windows 7 Theme information for the specifications I used for the theme...

May 1st is around the corner…time for an updated Windows 7 Smashing Magazine theme pack! As you might expect with May the general theme is flowers and Mother’s day type things.  My favorites this time being the Thailand Kopipi (above) and the salt shore.  So here is your May 2010 Windows 7 Theme Packs for wallpapers – unfiltered and uncensored – about 40 wallpapers in all. Smashing Magazine May 2010 Windows 7 Theme (calendar) Smashing Magazine May 2010 Windows 7 Theme (no calendar) Smashing Magazine...

April 1st is around the corner…time for an updated Windows 7 Smashing Magazine theme pack! As you might expect with April the general theme is Easter and Earth day type things.  There are a couple of nuggest in there, my favorite being the Reservoir Dogs tribute.  So here is your April 2010 Windows 7 Theme Packs for wallpapers – unfiltered and uncensored – about 80 wallpapers in all. Smashing Magazine April 2010 Windows 7 Theme (calendar) Smashing Magazine April 2010 Windows 7 Theme (no calendar) Smashing Magazine Desktop Wallpaper: April...

It’s that time again…beginning of a new month!  That means that Smashing Magazine has released their monthly wallpaper pictures again. Not as many St. Patrick’s themed ones as I would have expected.  Here are your March 2010 Windows 7 Theme Packs for the wallpapers though…including all images (note: some ‘without calendar’ images are not provided by the authors) unfiltered. Smashing Magazine March 2010 Windows 7 Theme (calendar) Smashing Magazine March 2010 Windows 7 Theme (no calendar) Smashing Magazine Desktop Wallpaper: March 2010 (original post) For details on these and to see...

Below is a list to links of my Windows 7 themes that are based on the Smashing Magazine monthly desktop wallpaper posts.  Simply click on your desired theme pack (you must have Windows 7) and it will run.  These themes all use the default Windows sound themes (minus the start navigation) and are set to rotate every 30 minutes.  You can adjust those settings to your liking after installed.  They also use the 1920x1200 resolution pictures from the post as the maximum/best provided for each author. January 2010 February 2010 ...

One of the cool features of Windows 7 is the theme packs that are available.  I’ve been rotating between Bing’s Best, United States, Italy and Russia themes.  Great photography (and some have cool sound packs too). Each month Smashing Magazine, one of my favorite online subscriptions, puts together a set of desktop wallpaper for the month with calendars on it.  These images are from various worldwide contributors.  Smashing Magazine is primarily a site for design (and does focus a lot on web design, etc.) and is a great resource for any one who appreciates design aspects.  They also provide...

Last night I decided to mess around with some older laptops.  I had an HP Pavillion ze2000 CTO laptop (not sure why they call it “CTO” – I guess the Altec Lansing speakers included makes it an executive ;-)). I installed Windows 7 (32-bit) from my home Windows Deployment Server with no problem.  This one took longer than the less-than-20-minute installs I’d been experience.  I’m not sure why.  It wasn’t terribly longer, but about 30-40 minutes I think.  I ran Windows Update and it got all the latest drivers.  A quick check in Device Manager showed no device problems. ...

Now that Windows 7 beta has been released, there are quite a few people using it and I’ve seen pretty positive feedback about it.  I’ve been running it for about a month now and am impressed with the performance over Vista mostly.  All my programs continue to run fine (only exception is MagicDisc ISO mounter, but found another option – why isn’t ISO mounting a part of Windows – vote here?!?!?!) and I was able to set up a perfect Windows Deployment Server image to quickly image my laptops with the latest build, a slipstreamed version of Office, etc. NOTE ON...